POLICE in Yugoslavia claimed to have destroyed 33 secret Albanian nationalist groups in the southern Yugoslavian
province of Kosovo, and to have seized arms caches and large amounts of propaganda material. They admit, however, that
the situation there remains "serious."

Students are continuing to cause trouble at the University in Pristina, the capital, and elsewhere, despite the severe jail
sentences of up to 15 years handed out to demonstrators.

Mr Mehmet Malici, the provincial police chief, revealed that 280 people have been sentenced, more than 800 fined and some
100 are still under investigation. Nevertheless, "minor incidents" still occur. So far this year, for instance, almost 300 hostile
slogans have been daubed on buildings.

The authorities blame the unrest on the "internal enemy in collusion with foreign forces, above all with the Albanian
intelligence service." the autonomous province of Kosovo is part of the republic of Serbia but almost 80 per cent of the 1.6m
population are ethnic Albanians.

It has been under virtual military rule since last April, when successive waves of violent demonstrations shattered public
order.

Latest reports confirm the situation to be still highly volatile, with the great majority of the ethnic Albanians refusing to
co-operate with the police. "Nin," the Belgrade weekly publication, has recently revealed that Serbs and Montenegrans are
being attacked, their wives and daughters occasionally raped and their property destroyed.

Such "Fascist type" intimidation methods, it said, is forcing them to migrate to other parts of Yugoslavia.

There are sporadic reports about the unrest spreading to Montenegro and Macedonia, where hundreds of thousands of
ethnic Albanians live in compact groups. The demonstrators, primarily young people, last year demanded republic status for
the province. The Belgrade leadership has rejected this, seeing it as a prelude to a merger with neighbouring Albania.

The entire political leadership of Kosovo, from the party secretary to the police chief and television director, have been
removed and the Serbian republican authorities have tightened their control over the province. But in view of the severe
unemployment -- only 176,000 are employed, against 72,000 officially registered workless -- young ethnic Albanians are
likely to remain a serious cause for concern.

The Belgrade newspapers also admit that ethnic Albanian officials and politicians in the province are often physically
threatened and their cars and houses damaged by the nationalists, who regard them as collaborators.

The eruption of national hatred and the accelerated migration of Slavs has provoked an equally dangerous nationalist
backlash in Serbia and other parts of eastern Yugoslavia. The crisis in Kosovo has also whipped up nationalistic sentiments
among the estimated 35,000-40,000 Albanians working in the West.

In recent months, several Yugoslav diplomatic and trade offices have been attacked by Albanian extremist groups and three
politically active Albanian residents in West Germany were murdered in mysterious circumstances last month.